And They Will Worship
by BizzyLizzy
Summary: Daniel touches something he shouldn't and suffers the consequences.


****

Spoilers for Legacy.

And They Will Worship…

SG1 stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the temple. Daniel had been so keen on reaching this place that Jack nearly had to physically restrain him from dashing up the steps and inside before he'd been able to ensure the area was secure. Sam grinned at the excitement of the archaeologist before following Jack and Teal'c inside where they checked everything out.

'Ok, Daniel, you can go out to play now,' Jack informed Daniel, before turning his attention to the other two members of SG1. 'Teal'c, you go with Carter to collect the dirt she seems so keen on, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Daniel. Be back here by 1800.'

Daniel was already absorbed in studying the markings on the stone tablets that were situated at regular intervals all around the walls. Sitting cross legged in front of one, he had his notebook out scribbling notes as he went after first completing a circuit of the temple with his video camera taking detailed footage for further study back on earth.

Sighing deeply, Jack set himself the task of ensuring Daniel kept himself out of trouble while keeping an eye on the area surrounding the temple. There were no signs of any recent human activity in the area, but that wasn't to say no one lived here or that where was no danger. Besides, doing regular patrols of the area kept him from going completely insane with boredom.

Four hours into his enforced Daniel-sitting, Jack decided it was time to liven things up. Daniel had moved a couple of feet from where he had first settled himself down, but was still sitting cross legged with that intent look on his face which showed he was completely oblivious to what was going on around him - Apophis himself could arrive with an army of Jaffa and Daniel would know nothing about it until he had a staff blast through his middle. *I just hope he appreciates these little things I do for his benefit* Jack thought to himself.

Grabbing a bottle of water from his pack, Jack moved to stand behind Daniel where he proceeded to flick water at him, a little at first which caused Daniel to scowl slightly but not bothering him enough to find out what was going on. A little more water this time, and Daniel glanced up at the roof of the temple with a vague expression on his face as if he expected his own personal rain cloud to be floating above him. When he again returned to his observations, Jack decided it was time to get Daniel's full attention. Holding the bottle over Daniel he allowed the water to trickle steadily over his head until finally it started working it's way down his face, spattering his glasses.

'Hey!' Daniel exclaimed, his attention dragged away from his studies at last. 'What did you do that for? I was just getting into this.'

'Well, I thought it was about time you had a break - eat.' And Jack thrust a packet of food in his hands.

'But…' Daniel tried to protest.

'Eat - you've been working for four solid hours. I don't want to have to carry you back to the 'gate when you pass out from hunger you know. Besides…' Jack waved a mug in front of Daniel's nose containing coffee. Daniel's eyes took on a dreamy expression as he grabbed the mug and took a big mouthful of the precious contents.

'You're a life saver, Jack, what would I do without you?' Daniel said with real feeling, his hands clutching the coffee to himself protectively.

'Just as long as you remember that the next time I give you an order.' Jack grinned at him.

'I'm a civilian, Jack, I don't have to…' 

Jack interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. 'We are not going through that again. Just eat and tell me what you've been up to - four hours with no-one to talk to was starting to drive me nuts.'

'Well, I'm pretty sure this temple was dedicated to the Aztec god Xipe Totec. Totec means awesome and terrible lord who fills me with dread and Xipe is man who has been flayed and ill-treated.' Daniel paused to take another sip of coffee.

'So Zippy Totem was a goa'uld right? Those all sound like typical behaviour for those snakes,' Jack said.

'I would say so, yes. He was the god of spring and to represent the new coat of vegetation that came with the spring, a priest would flay one of the slaves and then wear the skin as a symbolic gesture. A pretty good persona for a goa'uld to take on - full of sacrifices.' While Jack pulled a face at this rather graphic description, Daniel, deeply into his description of his findings, treated it as clinically as any other of his archaeological finds. 'What is more interesting is that although when he arrived here he made the people build this temple to honour him and to carry out his favoured rites of sacrifice and flaying, none of this was ever carried out. It seems he left just before the temple was completed and didn't return. There is something else though, I get a feeling there was more to these people than meets the eye. I'm hoping there's something here that we can make use of.'

They had finished eating now and Daniel, without waiting for Jack to say anything further, took up his position from where he had left off. Moments later he was oblivious once again to anything else going on around him.

After another two hours, Jack spoke to the back of Daniel's head, informing him he was going to check in on Carter and Teal'c and carry out another perimeter check. Daniel nodded vaguely at Jack's 'Make sure you don't touch anything you shouldn't,' and left Daniel to his own devices for the time being.

Daniel had moved to another tablet but this time his attention was caught by something engraved in the larger than normal gap between the two tablets. Digging out his brush, he carefully swept away years of accumulated dust and debris from something marked on the wall itself. Once he had it clear he realised it was a plan of the interior of the temple, showing the position of each of the pillars within it. One of the pillars appeared to be different, the one right in the centre of the room having some special significance.

Immediately Daniel's attention was drawn to this pillar and he moved towards it expectantly, eager for the information it could hold which may help him understand more about this culture, that something which was nagging away at him as if he should be able to put his finger on what was so familiar. Carefully studying and feeling the indentations around the pillar, Daniel became frustrated that there appeared to be no meaning to the markings. He had nearly covered the entire circuit of the pillar when, his fingers barely brushing the surface of one small panel, he heard a grating noise of stone moving against stone.

Whirling around, Daniel realised that a part of the floor beyond the pillar had moved to one side revealing a set of wide, shallow steps leading to an underground chamber. Without pausing to think of the possibility of danger or of calling Jack, he was down the steps and taking a good look around.

It was disappointing, to say the least. The chamber was empty, nothing on the walls and only one solitary pillar. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided he might as well take a closer look at the pillar while he was there and proceeded to examine it as closely as he had the one that had opened up this chamber. As he studied it, the pillar suddenly pulled back into itself revealing a glowing orb sitting on a pedestal within. Inexplicably drawn to something about the orb, Daniel looked intently into the light. 

**********

'Daniel! Daniel - you'd better not have gone down those stairs…' Daniel could hear Jack's voice coming from somewhere above him and he sounded extremely irritated.

Moving towards the bottom of the steps he could see an angry Jack coming towards him.

'Daniel, what have I told you before about not touching anything? What have you done now?' Jack snapped.

'Jack?' Daniel responded, his voice vague and distant. 'What am I doing here?'

'I was about to ask you that same question,' Jack was still angry and didn't notice that anything was wrong until Daniel reached out to steady himself on a pillar which seemed to be the only thing of note in this room. 'You ok?' Jack's voice showed concern now.

'I don't know, I feel a bit…' Daniel stopped speaking abruptly as his knees buckled. Jack caught him and lowered him to the ground, hastily checking for his pulse and breathing while yelling into his radio. 

'Carter, Teal'c, get back to the temple now - we're in some kind of underground chamber. Daniel's unconscious.'

As Sam and Teal'c raced down the stairs they could see Jack helping Daniel into a sitting position, leaning him against a pillar in the centre of the chamber.

'Sir?' Sam asked.

'I don't know Carter. I came back from doing a perimeter check to find Daniel down here. When I got down, he just passed out.' Jack said. 'You ok, buddy?' 

'Jack?' Daniel spoke softly, looking around him in a daze. 'What happened?'

'I was kind of hoping you could tell us that. You took one look at me and passed out. You trying to tell me something?' Jack's voice was gentler than the words implied. 'You sit there for a minute while we finish checking this place out.' He left Daniel trying to regain his bearings and moved to where Sam was carrying out a scan of the area.

'Got anything?' He asked her.

'I'm not sure sir,' Sam replied. 'I'm getting some kind of residual energy reading, but it's fading fast.' She shook the scanner as if by doing so it would tell her something. 'Sorry, it's gone completely now and I have no idea what it was or even if it was what made Daniel pass out.'

'Teal'c - anything?'

'There appears to be nothing here which will assist us in this matter.'

'Well in that case, anyone want to go home? I've had enough of this place.' Jack crouched down next to Daniel, studying his face, looking for an improvement in his previous state. 'You think you can get yourself back to the 'gate?' As Daniel nodded, Jack helped him to his feet, holding him steady as he regained his sense of balance.

'Carter, you take point, Teal'c, on our six.' Jack issued his orders, keeping close to Daniel who even now seemed a little wobbly on his feet and still appeared to be dazed, not really aware of his surroundings as he obediently followed Sam out of the temple.

************

Daniel could hear voices talking somewhere above him. His head felt heavy and there seemed to be something pressing down on his eyes preventing them from opening. The next minute one of his eyelids was raised and a bright light shone into his eye. Screwing his eyes shut quickly against this intrusion, he flung one arm over his face protectively to prevent the torture from being continued. 

Then he realised the voices were becoming more distinct and he could recognise their owners now. 

'Daniel, I need you to open your eyes for me,' he could hear Dr Fraiser talking in that firm voice which was difficult to disobey, but nevertheless he tried. He could feel her hand trying to remove the arm covering his face and he brought the other one up to try to push the hand away. 'We can do this the easy way or the hard way Dr Jackson. Which is it to be? Are you going to open your eyes?' Dr Fraiser's voice told him that unless he co-operated soon he could well regret it so he placed his arms back across his stomach and tried to open his eyes.

As light flooded in through the small crack in his eyelids, he could feel a piercing pain shooting right through his head causing him to screw his eyes shut again. He could hear Dr Fraiser again, this time her voice was coaxing him, encouraging him to try again.

'You're nearly there, Daniel, come on, you can do it.' With a huge effort, he forced his eyelids open and looked at Janet standing next to him with Jack at her shoulder, both looking anxiously at him.

'Good, now, can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?'

Daniel screwed his eyes up, trying to focus on the fuzzy image of Dr Fraiser's hand.

'For crying out loud, Doc, don't you ever learn?' Jack's voice sounded exasperated. 'You'd have thought after all these times of treating Daniel that you'd remember to give him his glasses before you do that.' And Daniel could feel the cold hard frames of his glasses settling down on his nose, a little lopsided, but at least he could see more clearly now.

'Three,' Daniel responded, then threw in a question of his own. 'Why am I in the infirmary?'

'You passed out as you came back through the 'gate three hours ago and have been unconscious since then. Gave us all a bit of a fright.' 

'Oh.' Daniel lay there for a few moments, taking in this information. 'How did I get to the 'gate?'

Daniel was concentrating hard on trying to remember what had happened before he woke up in the infirmary and didn't notice the looks Jack and Dr Fraiser were giving each other.

'What's the last thing you remember?' Dr Fraiser asked him.

'Jack told me he was going to check up on Sam and Teal'c, I was in the temple trying to translate the tablets in there.' Daniel replied.

'Nothing at all after that?' Dr Fraiser looked closely at him.

Daniel frowned, trying to recall what happened after Jack had left him alone, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to come to mind.

'No - what did I miss?' He said eventually.

'You found a chamber underneath the temple, that's where you were when I got back.' Jack filled him in on the missing details. 'When I went down to see what you were up to you collapsed. We couldn't find anything down there and when you woke up, we got you back to the 'gate. You did seem pretty out of it.' Jack spoke in a light hearted manner, but his eyes betrayed the concern he was feeling and when Dr Fraiser spoke again, for once he actually did as she told him.

'That's enough for now Colonel. I need to do some tests, see if I can figure out what happened back there. I'll let you know as soon as I've got anything.'

*************

Two hours later Jack had returned to the infirmary following a summons from the doctor.

'Well?' Jack asked impatiently.

'Most of the tests were negative, the only thing I found was a low blood sugar level which is probably why Dr Jackson passed out.' Janet turned to Daniel, 'When was the last time you ate?'

'Just before Jack left me on my own.' Daniel looked puzzled. 'That couldn't have been the cause, surely?'

'I'm not sure. Nothing else showed up so I'm inclined to put it down to that for the time being at least.' Dr Fraiser frowned, feeling that something was not quite right with the situation.

'Does that mean I can go now?' 

'It means I don't need to keep you in the infirmary but I want you to stay on the base for the next few days just in case.' Dr Fraiser paused. 'You need to take things easy, though, I'm putting you on stand down until I'm sure there won't be any recurrences of this episode. Oh, one last thing. Get yourself something to eat before you do anything else.'

Daniel opened his mouth to argue, but Jack interrupted before he could say anything.

'No problem - I'm on it Doc. Consider it done,' and steered Daniel in the direction of the door.

**********

Daniel sat opposite Jack in the mess hall, toying with the food on his plate. Jack had already polished off his plateful of casserole and was starting on dessert.

'I believe I heard Dr Fraiser mention something about getting something to eat. I can't recall her saying anything about playing with your food - you actually have to eat that stuff for it to do you any good, you know.' Jack waved his spoon in Daniel's direction.

Daniel, suddenly becoming aware that Jack was talking, caught the gist of what he was saying. 'What? Oh, yeah, sorry.' He picked up his fork and began shovelling the food into his mouth, barely waiting to swallow one mouthful before taking a bite of the next.

'Daniel - what is with you? First you ignore your food completely, now you're trying for the Olympic speed eating medal.' Jack paused as Daniel barely registered what was being said to him. 'And you've not said one word to me - I'm feeling a little lonely and neglected here, you know.' Jack tried to play on Daniel's softer side, knowing him to be a sucker for a hard luck story.

'Sorry, Jack, I guess I'm feeling a bit tired.' Daniel apologised, seeming to be a little more focussed now, the dazed look in his blue eyes had receded.

'How can you possibly be tired? You've spent most of the day in bed.'

'I was unconscious - I don't think that can really be classed as sleep.' Daniel finished his meal, then stood up. 'Sorry I've not been much company - I'm going to get some sleep now. See you in the morning.'

'Wait up, Danny,' Jack caught up with Daniel at the door. 'Are you sure there's nothing wrong?' He looked at Daniel searchingly.

Daniel forced a smile on to his face and replied as evenly as he could, 'I'm fine, Jack, just tired, like I said. I'll be better once I've had some sleep. Good night.'

'Night, Daniel.'

************

'Daniel,' a soft, oh so familiar and longed-for voice spoke his name. Opening his eyes, he saw her standing there in front of him in the room he used when he stayed on the base. Rubbing his eyes with his hands and then looking again, she was still standing there, as beautiful as ever and that same look of love in her eyes as the last time he had really seen her as herself.

'Sha're?' Daniel whispered, still not believing his eyes.

'I am here, my Daniel, I have always been here, my love,' she said.

'This is not real,' Daniel closed his eyes tightly, to try to shut away the pain that had been awoken once more at seeing his wife in this manner. In the early days he dreamt of her constantly, waking himself up all too frequently with crying out her name, trying to reach out and touch her, only to realise it was only a dream. This time, it seemed different, as if she was really here and not just in his dreams.

'I am here for you, my love. I am here to help you, to remind you of who you are.'

'I know who I am, I don't know who you are. Who are you? Why are you tormenting me like this?' Daniel hissed the words, trying to hold back the feelings of pain and loss that were beginning to overwhelm him.

'It is I, Sha're, your wife, my Daniel. I could not leave you to go through this time alone. You need to remember who you are.'

'You are not Sha're. My Sha're would never do this to me, would never taunt me in this way when I know I will never see her face again, or touch her, or speak with her. My Sha're died and I regret every single moment when I knew she was still alive but trapped and could not go to her. I have been through hell for her because I loved her. I wanted to free her from her prison, to make her whole again, but I failed her and I blame myself for that. I could have done more, I should have tried harder.' Daniel paused to try to regain control of the raw emotion that had been let loose at this encounter.

'I am your Sha're, my beloved. You are the good, kind man who my father made his son. The man who fights for all that is good, for the freedom of innocent people who have been enslaved. You couldn't help me, but you have helped so many others, and will continue to help countless more. You are a hero, my Daniel. My hero.'

'You sound so much like her,' Daniel was whispering again. 'So out-spoken, so confident, so able to see right into my heart. Sha're?'

'Remember my love, I am always with you, always in your heart. Keep me there with all the rest that is good about you and fight the evil, fight the evil for my sake, beloved. My Daniel…My Daniel,' the voice faded and there was silence.

'SHA'RE!' Daniel yelled, waking himself up, finding himself drenched in sweat, his T-shirt and shorts sticking clammily to his damp skin. He was shivering in spite of the warmth and he felt drained, as if he had woken from a fever. 'Sha're,' he sobbed, almost silently, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with his fists as he felt the tears streaming down his face and his body became wracked with uncontrollable sobs.

At last the crying stopped and Daniel felt his eyes growing heavy once more with sleep. He lay down, closed his eyes and felt himself drifting off. He awoke moments later with a start, visions of Sha're's face coming unbidden into his mind. He waited a few moments then tried again, but again her face floated into his vision, preventing him from sleeping. 

Glancing at his watch he realised it was nearly four o'clock in the morning. He decided he may as well give up hope of getting any more sleep and headed for the showers to freshen himself up before going to his office to make a start on translating the rest of the tablets from their last mission.

*************

Daniel had been working solidly for several hours now. It had been hard to begin with, his mind kept wandering back to the image of Sha're that was still fresh in his mind and he had been distracted. Once he had settled down to the task at hand, he found he was making significant progress with his translation but something was nagging at the back of his mind. There were a number of references to 'the other ones' and to 'our brethren from afar' and he felt this should have some important meaning. Moving to the coffee machine in the corner to refill his empty mug, he pondered what he had discovered so far.

A wave of tiredness washed over him as he reached the table holding the coffee, and he reached out a hand to steady himself. As he stood straight again he heard a voice, barely whispering.

'Help…prisoner…trapped…dying…' the voice seemed to be saying. Shaking his head as if to deny what he was hearing he poured his coffee and returned to the bench where he had been working. Before he could resume his translation the voice came again, slightly louder this time.

'Help…prisoner…trapped…dying…'

Irritated now, as he imagined it to be some idiot of an airman playing the fool to pass the time until his shift was over, he strode to the door, flung it open and glared up and down the corridor outside. No one was there. Walking to the end of the corridor, he bumped into Jack coming the other way.

'Daniel, don't tell me you've been working all night?' Jack greeted him. 'You know Dr Fraiser said you had to take it easy for a few days, I'm sure she didn't mean you to be working at all, let alone staying up all night.'

'Oh, hi Jack,' Daniel was trying to peer behind the older man, see if anyone else was hiding there. 'Uh, no, I have had some sleep, I just got up early, that's all.'

'Well you look like you've been up all night.' Jack, realising he didn't have Daniel's full attention, asked, 'What are you looking for?'

'Did you pass anyone coming the other way?' Daniel looked a little disturbed. 'I thought I heard someone talking outside my office just now but I couldn't see anyone.'

'Nope - just a typical Sunday morning around here - like a ghost town,' Jack's thoughts turned to another time when Daniel had heard voices that weren't there. Daniel saw the look and Jack silently cursed himself as he saw the shutters going up over Daniel's face, closing himself off from his friend. Jack quickly changed the subject. 'Want to grab some breakfast?'

Daniel hesitated, then nodded. Best to humour Jack for the time being, don't let him think you're imagining things again -you know what happened last time - he was not going to experience another trip to the funny farm.

'So - what you doing here so early?' Daniel turned the conversation towards Jack.

'Looking for you, actually,' Jack grinned at Daniel. Maybe he was being over-sensitive, looking for problems that weren't actually there. He had felt guilty when Daniel had been hauled off by McKenzie and he was not going to allow that to happen again if he could help it. 'Thought you might want to head out to the mountains for a change of scenery - it's a beautiful day, we could grab Teal'c, Carter and a picnic and make a day of it. What do you say?'

'I'm supposed to stay on base, Jack, remember?' Daniel reminded him.

'No problem, I'm sure everyone's favourite doctor will let you out for the day as long as you're in the hands of a responsible adult.'

'So that's why you want Sam along then?' Daniel shot back, a hint of his old self starting to resurface.

'Oh, ha ha. So how about it?' 

'I'm going to take a rain check on that, I really want to get on with that translation.'

'Daniel, it's Sunday, for crying out loud, can't you take a break for one day at least?' Jack tried to persuade him.

'Sorry, but I really would prefer to get this done. I'm sure Sam and Teal'c will still go.'

'I wouldn't be too sure,' Jack spoke a little more glumly, 'Teal'c was busy meditating and there was a light on in Carter's lab when I went past - I was hoping that if you came they would agree too.'

'Jack - you're a big boy now,' Daniel grinned at Jack, 'It'll be ok if you go out to play on your own today.'

'Gee Daniel, you're so good to me. Thank you,' Jack grimaced as he spoke but decided it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie for once, or in this case, let archaeologists on a caffeine-high work.

*************

It was getting late and Daniel hadn't got very far with his translation. Each time it seemed like he was about to unravel something, the whispering would start.

'Help…prisoner…trapped…dying…'

Over and over again. It no longer seemed to be coming from outside now, but it was in his head and he was finding it hard to concentrate. Frowning as he attempted to focus once more on his notebook he heard another voice, calling his name.

'Daniel - remember what I told you. Remember I am here, my love. Remember all the good in you.'

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the prick of tears he could feel threatening to overflow. His thoughts and feelings were jumbled, he felt confused and dazed, as if he were about to lose control of himself. The whispering voice seemed to recede now and when at last he had gotten himself under control again, he found he was able to concentrate once more and continue his translation.

He worked steadily through the day, stopping only briefly to grab a sandwich at lunchtime when his stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten much at breakfast. 

As he returned to his office after eating, he thought he could a voice coming from inside the room. Pushing the door open, he half expected to see Jack standing there having changed his mind about taking off for the day. Instead, the room was empty. Checking to make sure there wasn't a radio or anything else lying around he heard the voice again.

Then he realised, it was _that _voice again. 'Help…prisoner…trapped…dying…'

Grabbing his notebook and trying desperately to shut the voice out, he threw himself into his studies. Initially the voice was still there, but as he concentrated harder it receded until at last it was nothing more than an irritating buzz in the background that could be ignored.

He was starting to make progress now and the next thing he became aware of was Sam knocking on his door.

'Hey,' she greeted him with a smile, 'Colonel O'Neill told me you were working here today - he ordered me to make sure you got something to eat before I went home. So…coming?' As she saw Daniel hesitating, she changed tactics. 'You're not going to make me disobey a direct order are you? You know the Colonel will have me doing cooking duty on our next mission if you don't come with me.'

Daniel grinned at her, knowing as well as she did that Sam was not the world's best cook and that Jack would not subject them to that torture for an entire mission. 'Well, in the interests of self-preservation, I'll take you up on your offer,' he said, playing along with her.

Sitting in the mess hall, Daniel was quiet, trying to concentrate, to avoid hearing the voice that was starting to become louder now he was no longer concentrating and focussing on something else.

'Are you alright?' Sam asked in concern as she noticed Daniel had hardly touched his food.

'Sorry, Sam,' Daniel apologised, 'I was miles away.'

'Tell me something I don't know,' she grinned back at him. 'What's on your mind?'

'Nothing really, I guess I'm a little tired,' Daniel frowned at his plate as he moved his focus to his food and slowly ate bite after bite until the plate was half empty.

'Daniel - something's wrong - I can tell. Don't try to deny it,' Sam stopped his protest before he could speak, 'Must be women's intuition or the fact you've been sitting with me for twenty minutes and have hardly said anything. You want to tell me what's going on?'

Daniel hesitated, considering what to tell her. He was not going to tell her about the voices in his head, but there was something he could say which would hopefully satisfy her. 'I had a dream last night and I guess it kind of shook me up.' He paused, staring at his fingers clutching the fork as if it were some kind of lifeline. 'Sha're. It seemed so real, like she was really in the room with me.' He realised his eyes were filling up again, his dream still affecting him.

'Oh, Daniel, I'm really sorry. You going to be alright?' Sam's eyes filled up in sympathy.

Daniel nodded, cleared his throat and gave her a small smile. 'Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just…I haven't had one of those really vivid dreams for some time and I wasn't expecting it. Thanks for being here, though.'

'What are friends for?' Sam smiled at him, understanding that he didn't want to go into any more detail.

The strange thing was, Daniel thought to himself as he made his way back to his office, was that after talking about Sha're, remembering the vivid dream, the voice had seemed to fade into the background again and he felt as if it was all a dream.

************

Daniel worked solidly for the next few hours. The voice was still a faint whisper nagging away at him but as long as he was working, it did not seem to bother him too much. After sitting in the same cramped position for a long time, Daniel stretched and yawned before running his fingers through his hair with one hand while glancing at his watch with the other.

Nearly 2am, he thought, may as well get try to get some sleep - he hadn't got much rest the previous night, in fact he had woken exhausted with the traumatic dream he'd had and he was feeling drained.

As he made his way back to his quarters he felt as though he were enclosed in a bubble - everything he saw, everyone he passed seemed to be remote, like he wasn't in the same reality as they were. He nodded at people he knew as he walked past, but was only vaguely aware of their presence. In this dream like state, he undressed down to his boxers and t-shirt and crawled into bed, carefully placing his glasses on the cabinet next to him. He closed his eyes, and a moment later was asleep.

'NOOOO!' He woke shaking with fear, sweat soaking his clothing for the second night running. This time, it hadn't been visions of Sha're but a menacing figure lurking in the darkness of his dreams. He hadn't been able to make anything out, other than to instinctively realise that what he had encountered was evil and it had been trying to talk with him, get him to do something. Screwing his eyes up in concentration he tried desperately to remember what this figure had wanted with him, he could remember whispering like he had heard earlier in the day, but with undercurrents of malevolence that made him shiver with revulsion.

Unable to face the thought of trying to sleep again, he got up quickly and changed into clean clothes, bundling himself up as much as possible as he could even now feel himself shivering. He had been asleep for less than ten minutes he realised with surprise as he glanced at his watch, relieved that he hadn't been subjected to that horror for any longer. As he reached out for the door handle to let himself out of the room, he was horrified to notice his hands were trembling and were having trouble gripping enough to open the door.

Mentally berating himself, he steadied his hand and exited the room, walking quickly to the elevator to go first to the mess hall and some supplies of coffee, then on to his office to take his mind off what he had just experienced.

Daniel managed to concentrate for nearly ten minutes before the unbidden image of that dark, malevolent being encroached on his thoughts causing another shiver of fear to flood through his body. Burying his head in his hands, he could smell something familiar, something comforting.

'Sha're,' he whispered as he recognised her unique scent. With that, he regained control of his mind and body and he sat up straight, returned to his translation and worked steadily through the rest of the night. Several times he felt like he was being overwhelmed with the negative murmurings of the voice, words which were unclear now, but they were there constantly in the background trying to force their way into his consciousness. Each time this happened, thoughts of Sha're came into his mind, causing him to stop work for a moment to reflect on different aspects of the time they had shared together so happily, and each time he found he was able to continue his work.

As night became morning, Daniel noticed that the intrusions in his mind were coming more frequently now, becoming stronger and it was harder to call up those pleasant memories, the ones that his instinct told him were protecting him.

Just as it felt as thought he could take no more of this mental torture Jack appeared at his door.

'You look like crap, Daniel,' Jack greeted him.

'Gee thanks, Jack and good morning to you too,' Daniel forced himself to respond.

Jack looked critically at Daniel, saw the telltale shadows beneath his eyes, the dullness of the blue eyes that normally sparked with life. He saw Daniel's hands shaking as he placed his notebook down on the table and the crease of his forehead as he pinched his nose between his fingers.

'Headache?' Jack asked.

'Yeah, I've just taken some aspirin. It should clear up in a minute.'

'You sure you're alright for the briefing this morning? Maybe you should go to the infirmary, get yourself checked out just in case?' Jack suggested.

'You're telling me to go to the infirmary?' Daniel tried to smile but succeeded in only achieving a grimace. 'This from the man who has to be dragged there kicking and screaming for his post-mission checks?'

'Ok, I take your point, but if it gets any worse I want to see you in the infirmary before I can click my heels three times - you got that?' Daniel merely smiled at this before collecting his notes together and joining Jack to head to the briefing room.

************

'…and although I had some hopes that we would be able to find a source of naquadah, there were only trace elements and I can find no indications of there being any deposits we can make use of.' Sam finished her report and sat back down again.

Daniel was sitting frowning at the papers in front of him, not registering that the others were looking to him for his report on translating the tablets from the temple. Jack cleared his throat loudly to try to get his attention but he still appeared to be oblivious to what was going on around him.

'Dr Jackson,' General Hammond spoke to him, then again more loudly this time, 'Dr Jackson - do you have anything to report?'

'What, oh, yeah, sorry General.' Daniel paused, then realised he couldn't figure out what the General wanted from him. 'Uh…'

Seeing the hesitancy in the archaeologist, General Hammond repeated his request, receiving a look of comprehension this time.

'Well I realised there was something familiar about the language and the way the tablets were written but it took me a while to figure out what it was - I believe that these people were some kind of off-shoot to the Tollans.' He paused to shuffle his notes to the next page, not noticing the looks of surprise at this news. 'From what I've been able to translate so far, as part of a scientific experiment several hundred years ago a small group of Tollans left the home world to set up a colony on another planet. They wanted to see how people from the same culture would develop on different worlds.'

'Then around a hundred years ago a goa'uld arrived through their Stargate and tried to enslave them.'

'Don't tell me - it was Zippy Totem, right?' Jack interrupted.

'Xipe Totec,' Daniel corrected him automatically.

'Whatever - see, I do listen sometimes,' Jack beamed at the others.

'Anyway,' Daniel continued, 'They had developed along similar lines to the Tollans themselves and were quite advanced technologically, they managed to conceal the technology long enough to enable a small group of them to take it and head for Tollana where the rest hoped to join them as soon as they could. They played along to the goa'uld, building the temple we saw at his direction, but even as they did his bidding, others were producing the tablets we found, recording their history as they went.'

'From what I can gather, Xipe Totec was there because he had received information that he could acquire new technology from these people, but all he saw in his time there was a simple farming community, so after flaying a few of them in anger he left them to seek other planets to conquer before the temple had been finished.' Daniel stopped speaking and stared back down at the table.

'And…?' Jack queried, looking for a conclusion to the report.

'Oh, that's as far as I've got.' Daniel glanced up briefly, looked down at his hands on the table and realised they were trembling again. Casually he jammed them into his pockets, hoping no one had noticed - he had managed to get through his report with flying colours, he congratulated himself. He'd nearly lost it at the beginning, but he felt he had recovered admirably and that no one had really noticed his hesitation in getting started.

Glancing up he realised he was alone in the room. *Get your act together, Jackson* Daniel told himself *You carry on like this and it won't matter if you're hearing voices or not - they'll lock you up anyway.* Collecting his papers together, he pushed back his chair and stood to leave and was half way to the door when he was pulled up short by Jack.

'Daniel - care to tell me what's going on?' Jack spoke quietly, but the glint in his eye told Daniel he meant business.

'Jack, I already said, I haven't finished the translation…'

'Dammit, Daniel,' Jack snapped at him, not allowing him to go down that road. 'You know perfectly well that's not what I meant. You acted like you were in another world back there and I'm not the only one who noticed. If you don't tell me what's going on right now I'm going to personally escort you to the infirmary and let Dr Fraiser loose on you. Now what's it to be?' Steel glinted in Jack's eyes as he glared at the younger man.

Daniel hesitated for a moment, images of Sha're flooding his mind, strengthening his resolve for a fleeting moment, forcing the muzziness that was slowly filling his thoughts to one side. Jack saw the distress in Daniel's face and his own features softened slightly.

'I…I've…' Daniel's inner self was battling against the voice now, the darkness trying to take control again, leaving Daniel unable to voice what was wrong. Realising that Jack was staring at him, worry etched on his face now, he resorted to repeating what he had told Sam. 'I've been dreaming about Sha're, the dreams I used to get right after…' he left the sentence unfinished, knowing Jack didn't need him to fill in the details. Jack had been with him through some of the worst times of his life and was fully aware of the trauma those dreams had caused, making him cry out in his sleep, waking the following morning more exhausted than he had been before he went to bed.

'Want to talk about it?' Jack offered his services.

'No,' Daniel almost shouted, surprising both himself and Jack at the vehemence of his response. 'Sorry,' he said shortly, 'I guess I'm just not very good company at the moment. I'm going to see if I can finish this translation. See you later.' Daniel scuttled from the room, leaving Jack looking after him with the feeling that there was more to this than Daniel was letting on.

************

Daniel had returned to his office, securing the door behind him. For a few minutes he sat with his head in his hands, trying to get rid of the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. When that didn't work, he decided to resume his translation as this had worked earlier in trying to control what was going on in his mind. Realising that he had gotten as far as he could with the notes he had made, he picked up the remote control and resumed watching the video footage. Initially he made notes as the video played but as the tape continued he found his eyes drooping and the pen dropping from his fingers.

Jerking himself to attention he became more aware of the presence of something else in his mind but still he tried to focus on the task at hand, desperate now to subdue the evil he could sense and feel. He rewound the video a few frames and resumed watching. This time, he was not even aware when his eyes closed and sleep descended, he had had little sleep in forty-eight hours and his body was no longer able to function without rest.

Sitting upright abruptly Daniel wondered what it was that had woken him, then realised he it was a fist hammering at his door and Jack's voice shouting his name.

'Daniel, if you don't open this goddamn door in the next thirty seconds I'm gonna blow it down,' Jack was yelling.

Rubbing his eyes with his hand as he stood up, he stumbled to the door and unlocked it, allowing Jack to enter.

'What's wrong?' Jack demanded, taking a good look at Daniel. He looked like he had just woken up, but he had only left the briefing twenty minutes ago, surely not enough time to have fallen asleep. But then again…seeing how tired he had appeared earlier maybe he could have been. 'You know you have somewhere you can go to sleep if you're that tired,' his words were sarcastic but the tone was gentle.

'What? Oh, I'm fine Jack,' Daniel mumbled sleepily, 'I think I fell asleep watching the video footage. I think I know now what happened to those people - Jack we have to help them.' Daniel's voice had changed as he spoke, becoming stronger and more alert, more like the old Daniel. Daniel's mind was clearer now and he felt ready to take on the world.

'Daniel, you can't have been here more than fifteen minutes, what can you have discovered in that time that you couldn't in the briefing?'

'Ah, well, it seems I was just missing a small part of the puzzle, the video showed me what I needed to know to put together the rest of what I'd translated,' Daniel spoke eagerly, his eyes shining. 'I already had most of the information translated but there was a small part of it that just didn't make sense. When I watched the video, I remembered what I had seen before and combined with what I had already found out I was able to put it all together and complete the puzzle and what I've come up with is very interesting. They left a message in some kind of code so someone could go after them and help them. I don't know how old it is but there may be a chance of survivors and they may be willing to exchange some technology with us.' Daniel stopped at last to catch his breath.

Jack was looking bewildered at the flood of information from the previously uncommunicative archaeologist, trying to make sense of what he had just been told.

'Slow down there, Daniel, I had trouble following what you were saying - try it slowly this time,' Jack requested.

'Several years after the temple was completed Xipe Totec returned to the planet. He found out these people had lied to him and had concealed their technology and he wasn't happy.' Daniel paused to make sure Jack was following him this time. 'He tortured a lot of them to make them tell him everything they knew, but they wouldn't and a handful of them managed to take everything with them on a concealed ship and headed to Tollana, the rest were to join them if they could by using the Stargate. Xipe Totec didn't get any information from them and when half had died he took the rest off to mine naquadah on another planet. One of them was able to conceal the co-ordinates to this planet on one of the tablets in the hope that they would be rescued.' Looking appealingly at Jack, Daniel concluded with, 'We have to see if any of them are still alive.'

Jack listened carefully, his instincts telling him that something wasn't right, but if Daniel was correct in what he was saying…they had to at least investigate further.

'Ok, I'll speak to General Hammond and set up another briefing, I'll let you know when it's going to be.' With that, Jack left Daniel's office.

Left on his own, Daniel thumped the bench in frustration. This was taking too long and much time had already been wasted but he knew if he pushed too hard then questions would be asked and he may never get there at all.

**************

Several hours later SG1 were at the base of the ramp waiting for the 'gate to finish dialling. Jack had been successful in persuading the General into allowing them to have a shot at rescuing some potential allies from a goa'uld. The MALP readings hadn't shown any indications of recent activity around the 'gate and no signs of anyone living there either. What they had shown was a system of caves which they hoped would lead them to the people they were looking for.

Jack kept a wary eye on Daniel, he had been behaving oddly the last few days and although the pre-mission check up had revealed nothing, Jack was still concerned. At the moment, Daniel was bouncing backwards and forwards on his feet, constantly looking around him and checking the progress of the chevrons locking into place. Maybe the kid just had too much caffeine in his system, Jack tried to convince himself.

Daniel could barely wait for the event horizon to form and only a restraining hand on his arm from Jack prevented him from dashing through the 'gate ahead of Teal'c and Sam.

'Hold up there, Danny boy,' Jack said, trying to keep his tone light, 'You know the drill - you follow the others through. What's the big hurry anyway?'

'I guess I've just spent so much time going over the history of these people I just want to get there and see what they're like in real life,' Daniel spoke quickly, jerkily, his words not flowing in his customary manner.

'You sure you're up for this?' Jack asked.

'Jack, will you quit fussing - I'm fine. I feel fine, Dr Fraiser says I'm fine.' Daniel sounded extremely impatient now as his next words clearly indicated. 'Can we go now?' Sounding a little like a petulant child.

Sighing deeply, Jack held out one arm, gesturing for Daniel to precede him up the ramp.

Sam and Teal'c were waiting on the other side having performed a quick scan of the immediate area.

'We're all clear, sir,' Sam informed Jack as he arrived.

'Ok, so where now, Daniel…Daniel!' Jack's voice showed annoyance as he realised the person in question was already walking away from them in the direction of the caves they had seen. When he showed no signs of slowing up, Jack jogged up behind him and caught his arm, making him stop.

'Jack?' Daniel asked the question as though he had no idea why Jack had stopped him.

'Daniel, I swear if I have to remind you of standard procedure once more on this mission…'

'You'll what?' Daniel bit the words out before he had chance to stop himself.

'I'll tie a leash around your neck and hand you over to Teal'c to keep you out of trouble,' Jack's words snapped back at Daniel, in response to the way Daniel had spoken to him.

Daniel merely glared at Jack and waited for him to give the go ahead to proceed.

'Ok, looks like we're heading for the caves as the best place to start looking,' Jack informed the others who had been standing a short distance away while the altercation between Jack and Daniel had been taking place. 'Carter, you're on point, I'll take our six.' Jack had had enough of Daniel for the time being and wanted to keep some distance between them, allow them both chance to cool down.

Daniel, ignoring the rest of his team-mates, walked along behind Sam with Teal'c somewhere close by. Already his outburst was forgotten and he walked numbly forward now, his final attempt at reasserting himself over what was now controlling him had failed. He had been unable to communicate with Jack. He had desperately wanted to but the only thing the inner voice had allowed him to do was to snap at his friend. Daniel had hoped Jack would figure out what was going on but Jack had only seemed irritated at Daniel's manner.

Everything around him seemed distant now, he knew Sam was up front but he only saw a vague shape walking ahead of him. The scenery around them was merely a blur, his mind now focussed solely on reaching the caves and what needed to be done once he got there. Deep inside he could feel his inner self struggling against the darkness and the evil it represented but knew he was fighting a losing battle so he merely trudged on, hoping that he would have the opportunity to overcome this inner demon before he could hurt any of his friends.

***************

They had been walking for nearly two hours when they at last reached the entrance to the cave system. Jack moved up to join Sam, to discuss their next move.

'There are no signs of recent activity, sir,' Sam was informing him, 'I think we're clear to go in and take a look around.'

Jack looked towards Daniel for further assistance, realising he was standing there with a blank look on his face. Concern mingled with irritation again - what was with him today, for the last few days in fact. 'Daniel, you ready?'

Shaking the wooliness from his mind, Daniel glanced over at Jack and nodded agreement, this time following Jack's lead rather than trying to go in ahead of him - he didn't want Jack to suspect anything was wrong.

The cave was a large hollow underneath the hills they had reached with what appeared to be a tunnel leading deeper into the hills at the rear of the cave. Switching on their flashlights, they cautiously entered the tunnel, senses on full alert for the first hint of danger. As the light from the entrance faded as they progressed further down the tunnel, the gloom seemed to reach in and try to overwhelm them. Sam shivered.

'Sir, I've got a bad feeling about this,' she informed him. Jack stopped abruptly to look at her, hearing the uncertainty in her voice.

'And this is because…?' He asked.

'I don't know sir, I just get the feeling we're not going to like what we find. I can't explain it sir.' Sam trailed off, glad when Teal'c also spoke.

'I too get this 'feeling' O'Neill. We should be extremely cautious as we proceed.'

'Ok, kids, we proceed with extreme caution, then.' Jack turned around again and continued down the tunnel.

A few more minutes brought them to a dead end.

'Now what? Daniel, any suggestions?' Jack turned to Daniel who was immediately behind him. Daniel said nothing but moved up to the wall they had come across and started feeling it, checking it out. A few minutes and Daniel had still said nothing.

'Daniel?'

'This isn't a part of the cave,' Daniel spoke in a dull, emotionless voice. 'I think this was sealed to keep something in. We need to try to break it down.'

Jack gave Daniel a sidelong look but decided that as they had come this far, they may as well see what lay behind the wall.

'Teal'c - will you do the honours?' Jack asked the Jaffa.

Teal'c charged his staff weapon and fired at the wall several times, the noise echoing around the enclosed space. When the noise and dust subsided they were confronted with a hole in the wall large enough to allow them through, but before entering they were overwhelmed by a putrid, rotting smell rushing through the gap.

'Geez, that smells like…' Jack halted while he tried to control the sudden urge to throw up his last meal.

'Yes, sir,' Sam's pale face showed she too was feeling the same way and understood what he had meant. Teal'c had a deep frown on his face, the only indication that he too was affected. The only one of them not troubled by the horrific smell was Daniel who stood there with that same blank look on his face as though he weren't really with them.

'Well, I think we can safely say we know what happened to our friends here,' Jack tried to lighten the tension caused by the overwhelming assault on their senses. 'Let's get back outside for a while, allow the air to clear in here then we should…' his voice trailed off as he realised he could see a figure making its way into the cavern. 'DANIEL!' he yelled after him, 'Get your ass back here now!' Jack's voice showed how annoyed he was, Daniel had pushed him too far this time and he was about ready to haul him back by the scruff of his neck. 

Daniel either did not hear him or was ignoring him as Jack could see him making his way in a straight line deeper into the cavern, ignoring any corpses that were in his way. 'Daniel?' Jack called after him, more quietly this time as he threw a look at Teal'c and Sam. 'Anyone know what's going on here?' He asked them, receiving two shakes of heads in response.

'Ok, well looks like we get to go exploring now rather than later. Watch your step.'

They made their way cautiously into the cavern, following the glow of Daniel's flashlight. As they got closer to Daniel, they realised he had stopped and was fumbling with something fixed in the wall, when they were close enough to see what was happening, they saw him kick a couple of corpses with calm abandonment from a circle on the floor. Just as they realised what this circle meant, the ring transporter activated and Daniel was snatched away from them.

'That was odd,' Jack commented to nobody in particular.

'Yes sir,' Sam agreed with him, moving over to the control panel set in the wall.

***************

Daniel found himself in a laboratory. There were numerous panels and screens set around the room letting off an eerie glow in the dimness of the room. As he stepped out of the circle of the transporter ring the main lights came on making him jump. Moving slowly around the room, he could feel himself being guided towards the far corner where a familiar looking object lay.

Still fighting desperately for control of his mind and body, Daniel found himself moving step by step closer to the object now in front of him. He knew he shouldn't do this, but he no longer had any control over what he was doing and he found himself reaching out to touch the controls on the sarcophagus, the controls which would open it up and release the occupant into the universe once more.

The activation of the ring transporter somewhere behind him only registered vaguely in his mind as he continued to punch the symbols on the control panel.

*************

As the ring transporter deposited them into what looked like a well-equipped lab, they could see Daniel in the far corner of the room, reaching out to touch something. Hurrying towards his position, Jack and Sam realised it was a sarcophagus and that Daniel was about to open it.

'Daniel!' Jack yelled, hoping to get his attention but it was too late, even as they spoke the lid opened and a figure sat up, taking in at a glance what was going on. Leaping out of the sarcophagus the creature grabbed Daniel by the throat, holding him in front of himself, using him as a shield.

'Who dares intrude upon my work?' The voice echoed in the tones of a goa'uld.

'Zippy Totem, I presume,' Jack said flippantly while backing himself up behind a console, seeing Sam had already found cover for herself. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Teal'c making his way around the other side of the room, unseen yet by the goa'uld.

'You are unworthy to be in my presence,' the goa'uld spoke to him, 'But I will accept your homage to our greatness. It has been a while since the rite of Xipe honoured our greatness. We will be pleased to accept the offering you have brought us.' 

Glancing quickly at Sam, they both realised he was referring to Daniel who was no longer held around the throat, but was standing there of his own volition, making no attempt to move or to join in the scene now unfolding. Taking a closer look, Jack now understood the blank look in his eyes, that something had been taking control over Daniel's thoughts and actions since they had returned from their last mission. Mentally kicking himself for not having realised sooner, he focussed once more on the immediate problem.

'Yeah, well, you know all this sacrifice stuff is highly over-rated you know. There are much better ways of having fun,' Jack could see Teal'c was in position now and did what he could to distract the goa'uld. 'Have you ever gone fishing? Now that…' He could hear a staff weapon charging but unfortunately so could the goa'uld who grinned evilly, malice flashing in his glowing eyes.

'Destroy this body if you will, I no longer have a use for it. This one,' he indicated Daniel, 'Will be my new host. It is a fine specimen and will serve me well.'

Teal'c took careful aim and a bolt flew from the end of his staff weapon, hitting the goa'uld in the centre of his back. The goa'uld fell forward, landing on top of Daniel. Watching carefully, his P-90 trained on the pair on the floor, Jack moved cautiously forward. He saw something slithering out of the dead goa'uld and with a reflex action he fired a single shot, instantly destroying the symbiote that had been trying to get to Daniel.

*************

He was asleep. He was so tired, hadn't been able to sleep properly for too many days now. The bad dreams had gone now, the voice trying to control him had subsided, no longer even a hint of it left. He still remembered Sha're, but he remembered the good times and was no longer disturbed by her presence as he slept.

What was that? Someone was shaking him by the shoulder, calling his name.

'Daniel? Daniel, will you wake up?' It was Jack's voice, sounding irritated, but not as he had been earlier, concern was underlying the manner in which he was speaking.

Groaning softly to himself he tried to open his eyes, but decided that hurt too much. His head was pounding and he felt completely drained.

'I know you're back with us, space monkey, now just open your eyes,' Jack hoped the name Daniel hated so much would do the trick.

'Don't call me that,' Daniel mumbled as he forced his eyes open at last.

'So you decided to follow an order after all,' Jack grinned at him. 'How are you feeling?'

'What happened?' Daniel asked as he peered myopically around the unfamiliar room he was in. Sam handed him his glasses and everything came back into focus.

'You nearly got a snake in your head is what happened,' Jack informed him, causing Daniel to sit upright suddenly.

'What?' Daniel tried to say as the room started to spin around him and he could feel gentle hands pushing him back on to the ground. Feeling too ill for the time being to protest, he allowed Sam to settle him down and check him over, an amused look on his face as he saw the glare she gave Jack.

'Ok, we'll give you the condensed version for now, then we need to get you back to the infirmary,' Jack ignored the grimace on Daniel's face at the mention of the infirmary. Sam filled in the details.

'We think you were under the influence of an alien mind control device from our last mission. The device was designed to get the remainder of the inhabitants to come here and make them release the goa'uld who would then carry out experiments on them, try to extract the information from them. He carried out experiments on the people from that planet as punishment for concealing their technology from him before he killed them using some kind of biological weapon. He was sealed in this compartment with the only way out through the chamber below, the air needed to clear before he could get out alive and his way of ensuring it was safe for him was to have one of those people get to him successfully.'

Daniel looked thoughtful for a moment, feeling he was missing something, but gave up after a few moments when his mind just couldn't seem to keep up with what was going on. 

'Can we go home now?' He asked in a tired voice instead.

'Sure you're up to it?' Jack asked. That sounded familiar, Daniel thought, as if this wasn't the first time he had heard something like this from Jack recently. Daniel merely nodded and was grateful for the support of Teal'c's arm as they made their way to the ring transporter.

As they reached the cavern Daniel suddenly became aware of an overwhelming urge to throw up. He looked around, taking in the large number of rotting bodies lying around and the smell they were generating. He succeeded in controlling himself until they had gone about halfway through when his body decided it could take no more and he felt himself dropping to his knees and emptying his stomach. He could feel a soothing hand rubbing his back, making the unpleasantness that much easier to bear. At last he was done and Jack helped him to his feet.

With Jack on one side and Teal'c on the other, each holding one of his arms, they got him out of there as quickly as possible and into the fresh air where Daniel gratefully allowed himself to be lowered into a sitting position. Drawing his knees up to his chest, his arms hugging himself, memories of the last few days started to return and he felt himself shivering as realisation set in.

Unaware of what was going on around him now, he didn't notice Sam and Teal'c move some distance away or that Jack was sitting next to him until he could feel himself enfolded in Jack's arms, comforting him. Gradually getting himself under control he began to talk, to tell Jack what he could remember.

'I was fighting it Jack,' Daniel said fiercely, 'I could feel something in my mind getting stronger and stronger, taking control. It wouldn't let me talk or tell anyone. It was Sha're who helped me to begin with, I dreamt of her and she told me I had to be strong, to fight the evil, to remember who I was. And it worked to begin with, but when I tried to sleep the voice kept coming back. So I didn't sleep and I kept working because that kept it away. But then I was so tired and I fell asleep, that was when you came in. It was only a few minutes but it was too late, it had taken over and I couldn't do anything. It knew my thoughts, what to say, how I would say things. I knew what was happening, what I was doing and I tried so hard to stop it, but I could no longer control what I was doing, it was like I was asleep. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't, it only made me do and say all those stupid things. I'm so sorry, Jack. I could have killed us all.'

'Daniel, it wasn't your fault, I'm sorry I didn't realise what was wrong, I should have known you weren't behaving like yourself.' 

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes, at last Jack could feel Daniel's shivering had stopped.

'You ok?' Jack asked gently.

'I will be,' Daniel smiled back at him as Jack helped him to his feet and they began the journey home.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************

Hope you enjoyed it - feedback always appreciated.

****

DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-1 Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.


End file.
